'Airbnb scam cost me £920'

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Brian O’Hanlon writes I was recently the victim of a scam via Airbnb’s website when booking an apartment in Barcelona. While browsing through the accommodation offers, I used the red “contact the host” link to send an email to the owner of an attractive apartment. The owner was listed as being “verified” on the site.

The apartment owner, Alfonso, replied to my email saying that the apartment was available on the dates I had requested and gave details of the rental cost and payment details. His email was pitch perfect, with a granular level of detail in all the right places. The email was sent from the address: Airbnbbooking@express-airbnb.com. Unfortunately, I was no longer dealing through Airbnb’s website – even though the email had a header saying “Pay secure with Airbnb.com”. This gave an “Airbnb” payment code and said I should transfer the €1,290 (£920) for the rental to an account in Spain by bank transfer.

I transferred the funds and waited for an acknowledgement. Nothing came. It was then that I realised I may have been defrauded and contacted Airbnb’s customer services team. Its response was disappointing. After saying the company was sorry that “this host has requested that you send money off of the Airbnb site” I was told that in such cases “it is very difficult for us to help you”. Airbnb told me that I shouldn’t have responded to an emailed PDF invoice directly from a host asking for payment but should have used Airbnb’s on-site secure payment system to proceed with the reservation.

That’s all very well but it was by using a link embedded in Airbnb’s website that I contacted the fraudster. In the circumstances I do not consider that Airbnb has protected my interest. When setting up my profile I received no warning about how to pay other hosts correctly. Instead, there are various references to ways forward littered across the site, including “instant book”, “contact host” and “expedite credit card payment”. These create enough confusion so that when an email is received from someone listed as a verified user you do not doubt it.

Can you help me get recompense from Airbnb?

A trip to Barcelona was spoiled for one reader (Photo: AP/Fotolia)

Gill Charlton, consumer expert, replies I asked Airbnb to look into your case. The email you were sent by Alfonso did include warning signs that it may be fraudulent (variable email addresses, poor English grammar, asking you to pay offline by bank transfer) but, as you say, he was running this scam through Airbnb’s website using the chat link.

“We have zero tolerance for the abuse of our site and both the host and listing were immediately removed,” said a spokeswoman for Airbnb. “Airbnb protects hosts and guests by handling all transactions through our secure payment platform. Guests pay through Airbnb when they book a listing, and hosts don’t receive payment until at least 24 hours after guests check-in.” So if you had booked and paid through the Airbnb website your money would have been protected. Airbnb has recognised that it must be more upfront about security when new customers log in for the first time and has improved communication in this respect. It has also recently introduced anonymous email addresses so that emails sent to hosts, and vice versa, are filtered through temporary Airbnb addresses. Airbnb says that if a host ever asks you to pay outside of Airbnb you should report them to safety@airbnb.com.

Although you did not use Airbnb’s secure payments facility, it recognises that the host you contacted had acquired two verifications, and so the company will refund the €1,290 as a gesture of goodwill.